MonsterPerfect Good idea lost in the noise

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Sharkflei Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

ChampDavSlim The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

violawillowcabin Roman Polanski's "Venus in Fur" (should be plural, I think) is a wonderful movie which riveted this viewer from start to finish. It is the movie "La Vénus à la Fourrure" with English subtitles. It contains the essence of the novel by Sacher-Masoch within the play by David Ives as adapted for the screen by David Ives and Roman Polanski. The script is great. The acting is fabulous. This movie, containing much irony, much satire, yet retains within it a loyalty to the original novel, "Venus in Furs" by Leopold Sacher-Masoch, which in itself is a riveting but deadly serious portrayal of gender relations in a dominance- submission context. Emmanuelle Seigner plays Vanda Jourdain, an aspiring but so far unsuccessful actress. Mathieu Amalric plays Thomas Novachek, an intellectual playwright who has written a play adapting the Sacher-Masoch novel, and now is attempting to direct his play. He has spent the day unsuccessfully auditioning actresses for the part of Vanda Von Dunayev. When Novachek is completely ready to call it a day, Vanda Jourdain enters the theater and somehow convinces Novachek to let her audition for the role. She also convinces him to play the part of Severin (the submissive). In fact, the audition becomes a rehearsal of the play. One of the interests in watching the movie is wondering how much of the character of Severin is part of the character of the playwright Novachek himself. And I think even more significant is wondering how much of the character of Vanda Von Dunayev (the dominant) is part of the character of the real life Vanda Jourdain. It's ambiguous. And therein lies its fascination. (This is the first review that I have done for IMDb.com. I don't know whether I've said too much or not.)

Allguns Allguns Polanski brings another piece of art that is quite hard to compliment without swearing! That said... Let's try in the most polite way possible! In the stage, both Mathieu Amalric and Emmanuelle Seigner give a terrific performance... Floating between characters, but yet playing only one character each... The dynamic between the actors are amazing... Sensual, honest, believable etc... There was no room for any other character or actor in the scenes... About Tom, he's familiar, a cool guy you know, and for this your fear for his life, for his relationship, still, you would like if he died, or betrayed his love interest... Now about Vanda, there's no way of not loving her, even when you just know her name... She can be the most unlucky person in the world that appears late for an appointment with you or the queen bitch that appears with an unknown objective... Both ways you would kiss her feet with pleasure! the plot is quite mesmerizing and thrilling... The adaptation by Polanski and Ives is very contemporaneous... Making it feel it even more fantastic... Not sure if thats the word i want, but anyway... It was brilliant as Carnage, the last feature film directed by Polanski before Venus... It follows the same recipe with only leading roles and a deep dive into the human nature... Once again, i'll have to talk about how sensual is the whole movie, with one exception... The scene when Venus reveals herself... It's freaky, funny, trying to be frighting (maybe), but not sexy... Even being Emmanuelle Seigner only in fur...

evanston_dad "Venus in Fur" is Roman Polanski's mostly successful screen version of the hit Broadway play with a dynamite conceit. A cocky playwright and director is auditioning actresses for a new play. In comes a flighty eccentric who he at first dismisses but who over the course of the story teaches him a little something not only about the character he wrote but about women in general. It's sort of a nightmare version of the Pygmalion myth, in which the creator's creation comes to life, but this time she's not willing to be submissive.The film's biggest flaw is that Emmanuelle Seigner, despite giving a terrific performance, is just too old for the role. This wouldn't necessarily have to be a detriment by the time the play ends, but it doesn't make sense that she's as old as she is at the beginning before some of the play's twists have fallen into place. And Polanski opts to change the ending, doing away with the simple but effective ending of the stage version and instead leaving things on a much more ambiguous note. I preferred the more simple ending, and think it would have gone farther toward making Seigner's age less of an overall issue.But aside from those criticisms, "Venus in Fur" is a fun romp of a movie, and probably about as cinematic as a two-character play set entirely on an empty stage could be.Grade: A-

kosmasp After "Carnage" another play from Roman Polanski. He seems to have found a muse in filmmaking (adapting) them. He literally found one in E. Seigner who plays the lead here. Some would call her a Femme Fatale. Even if you don't know the book this is adapted from (Venus in Fur) like myself you will get a feel for the piece.Put two great actors in a room (a big room) and let them do their thing. Now don't get me wrong, this movie can be very annoying, especially if you start thinking about patterns or character behavior that might not be your reaction to things happening. You can argue who is evil in this though. Or more accurate more evil than the other person. Or maybe you're looking for the good in the characters (of course bad traits are easier to find).Mesmerizing and an ending that is very theatrical. Not everyones cup of tea, but professionally made nonetheless